Rising Dark with a Shading of Gray
by Memoria Vita
Summary: Ten years after Voldemort vanished in their last battle, Harry finds himself wanting to the change the world, or maybe just the wizarding world. AU. Dark-ish Harry. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Ten years after Voldemort vanished in their last battle, Harry finds himself wanting to the change the world, or maybe just the wizarding world. AU. Dark-ish Harry.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, all rights belong to J.K. Rowling.

Authors note: This is my first work ever to be posted on any site and thus has never been reviewed by anyone for their opinions. I have an idea where this story could go but right now it is up for grabs whether or not I continue the story. But that being said please try to enjoy.

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><p>It was so easy to watch them dance. Those empty faces on aristocrat bodies, twirling to the tempo of the classical piece provided through the speakers set around the ball room's ceiling. The many dresses and robes, twirling together, showing a splash of twisting colors while those two faced people danced. These same people questioned why he didn't partake in the ball's festivities when he went against everything these pure-inbred-wizards stood for. Yes, they had the linage to go back many generations of witches and wizards but they also had the squibs that were turned out of those families. Those people souls born without the use of magic in a magical world. Malfoy's, Greengrass', Potter's, Prewett's, Zabine's, Knott's, Avery's, Black's, Weasley's, Bones'; all of them have squibs in their family tree, all of them related to each other, no matter the distance. But what happens when those people that were cast out 'bred' with the muggles? Muggle-borns. However, there are no true muggle-born wizards in the world. But these pure-blood bigets are too stubborn to realize that was their own ancestors that caused such children.<p>

Those squibs being cast out were probably the only ones that saved them from slowing going extinct but do they see that? No. They see some impure sod trying to take away what they spent generations gaining when they are most likely related in some way and should share that bounty to those related.

Emerald eyes close to those horriblely dancing figures, in a vain attempt to block out their stubborn ways. Oh sure, one could argue that certain families had no problem mixing with muggles, muggle-borns, and half-bloods, but those are few and far between and hardly help the large scale problem of pure-blood superiority.

Harry sighed and pushed off of the wall that he had been supporting for the last half an hour and cut through the twirling bodies without a care if he bumped into any one of them (which he didn't), just so he could get to the exit of the Malfoy manner and dissaperate away to his own home.

Its been ten years sense Voldemort vanished during that last battle and Harry was beginning to wonder what it would have been like had he stuck around to finish that final battle at Hogwarts. The battle itself was pitiful once he left, even if several people died. The Dark was beaten back once again and Harry was name the "Savior of the Light". But he didn't care, so long as he was alive, the Dark could rise again and again. Voldemort would still be living so long as he, Harry, was alive. As his last remaining Horecrux, Harry knew that he would have to face Tom Riddle one last time for it really to end.

Harry had taken control of all the Potter and Black estates but kept only one house, the smallest of them, the one his parents owned last, in Godric's Hollow. Even though he owned the house, he couldn't let his 'friends' come here as he had collected all manners of Dark Artifacts and books. The house's library was filled to the brim with every book he could get his hands on, spends hundreds of gallons on some of the rarer volumes. Hermione would have a fit if she saw the amount of books but probably die of fright if she saw the many volumes on the Dark Arts.

He had begun to wonder some years ago just what had draw Tom Riddle to the truly dark art of the world, so he had begun collecting books and artifacts using different glamour to conceal who was truly buying those items. The Sorting Hat always said that he could have been in Slytherin and now it was really showing. Harry studied everything he could get his hands on now, even going so far as to asking Hermione with on Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Realizing that it would be necessary to learn more advanced things about any branch of magic.

With the continual absence of Voldemort in his life, Harry felt that it was on his shoulders to protect the world when he decided to show back up in their lives but that was nine years ago, and now, after so many years he was hoping to find Tom Riddle so he could talk to him. Just Talk. Was that too much to ask? Apparently it was. As the bastard hasn't show any sign that was coming back anytime soon. It was interesting really, to see the once "Boy-Who-Lived" deciding that there really did need to be a change in their world. Ever sense Voldemort vanished, that Dark Arts were further segregated from the wizarding world and even though Dumbledore was no longer around to further things along, it was still happening. More and more muggles were being told about the wizarding world and Harry knew that something was going to happen soon. It was simple human nature to fear what you didn't understand and try to get rid of it, or ignore it. But as wizards could not readily be ignored with their magic and strange customs, muggles would ultimately try to get rid of it. Or that is how Harry saw it (and many of the pure-blood families).

However, he also saw the need for muggles for the continued survival of the magical community. Yes, there would be more muggleborns and half-bloods, and the pure-bloods would become even more rare and inbred. What Harry really need was to instill an act in the Wizardgamot to start a complete and total segregation from the muggle world, only dealing with them when it was totally necessary, like their farms and other food necessities. Or, though Harry once shuddered at the idea, they needed to find a way to sterilize the muggles and let them slowly die off on their own. They would not know what hit them until several generations were born. So at least twenty to thirty years and by that point in time, it would be far too late to try and reverse the effects. That is if he had the constitution to actually experiment on muggles for such a spell. Plus it would be decades still until any of the effects would be known.

Harry sighed again and sat back in his armchair, crossing his legs at the knee, arms resting on the sides of the chair, he had discarded his formal dress robes almost as soon as he had entered his favorite Black family estate, although the two story building with a very large basement area could hardly be called an estate. It rested on the Ireland coast line on a cliff that over looked the ocean, the crashing of its waves a constant presence within the house. He had named the place Ocean Crest, sure it was unoriginal but he liked it that way, calming as the cresting ocean on these rocky shores below.

He hadn't told anyone about this place or the numerous wards that wore cast over it, most as spells of one kind or another but some were also set with runes. He had spent countless hours warding objects to find what was compatible with what and when each could be applied, but he had to say that he was proud of the fact that he had been able to do it and that no one had yet to find out about this place, let alone try to break his wards. It had all the usual wards though; unplottable, anti-apperation, undetectable and muggle repellent, incorporated into so many others that he had either invented himself or were extremely old and no used anymore.

Harry sighed after checking the wards around his private home for what seemed like the thousandth time, his magic confirming that they were all in place and working properly. It was a great thing he discovered while reading so studiously the past nine and a half years, he could now feel the magic around him; wards, people, objects, even the magical creatures, anything that had magic. That alone helped in all of the training he did, being able to feel how his magic flowed for each and every spell, making it so that he could easily command his magic to do what he wanted it to do. Most of the time he didn't even use a spell, simply focused his magic to follow what he wanted.

If only he knew how to do something about this corrupted world with all his magic…

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><p>Meanwhile, Voldemort knelt clutching his head beside a cauldron, mouth open in a silent scream as his body began to shift. His face slowly losing its snake like features and gaining the normal visage of Tom Riddle Jr. , just like the rest of his body was losing all its snake like qualities and reverting back to what he should have looked like before his transformation.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter or its characters, nor do I wish to.**

**AN: I was quite surprised by the total of favorites and alerts for this fic which was only suppose to be a one shot little thing but due those who reviewed and alerted, I have decided to post the little bit I have thus far. Anymore updates might take longer than this, but I could ****try for once a week, no promises though.**

**Anyway, thank you again for the reviews and favs! Please try to enjoy this short chapter and review for me, good or bad, I will take both. =^.^=**

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><p>It had been three weeks since anyone had last seen Harry, the Yule Ball. Hermione and Ron had not been invited, but then none of the Weaslys had either. It really wasn't unusual for Harry to disappear without telling anyone these days but he normally sent an owl after the first week to let them know he wouldn't be back for a while longer. Nothing. Not even a quick note from him. Hermione had been to his house in Godric's Hollow on several occasions but it looked like no one had been there in at least a month. Harry's house-elf, Trixy, told her that Harry left three weeks ago and that she was to keep the place clean and insure that nothing was taken.<p>

Harry had bought Trixy from one of the older wizarding families that had to many elves to take care of their needs. She was so extremely loyal to Harry that Hermione couldn't get anything out of her and she was too moral to do anything to the little elf so she could get more information. She worried about Harry a lot but she knew that if he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. She also knew that Harry had a second house somewhere but she was never able to find it.

Harry had surprised her nine years ago when he asked her about Runes and Arithmancy. It seemed that after the Battle of Hogwarts that Harry's whole demeanor changed. He dove into magic to such a degree that no one could drag him out of his house for more than a few hours at a time. Then two years later he started to disappear for months on end, only sending an owl once a month.

He almost avoided human contact after that, even though he would make an appearance once in a while just so everyone knew that he was still alive and searching for a way to better their lives, or at least, that is what he said; Hermione couldn't help but feel otherwise. She could see that Harry was different now, he looked at the world as if it was just wrong, like he accused the world with his indifferent stare. Some people just put it up as having to sacrifice so much for the war, only to be denied the final victory, while others though he was losing his mind and other still, thought he was becoming the next Dark Lord. Hermione thought that he was just doing his best to become the most powerful wizard alive so when Voldemort did come back, he could defeat him, once and for all. The Weasleys thought that he was trying to come up with a some plan to find He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and kill him; at least, that is what Molly, Arthur, Ron, and Ginny thought. The other Weasley sons kept their opinions to themselves and wouldn't share them with her.

Hermione sighed and turned to face out her kitchen window, looking at Harry's house across the street, wishing she knew what was really going on with Harry.

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><p>Little did she know that there was a man standing just down the street looking at Harry's house for the same reason but he was subtly casting charms to see just how long it had been since The-Boy-Who-Lived had actually been gone from there, but he just growled in frustration as there was no trace of him ever actually being there in the first place.<p>

Tom Riddle knew that Harry Potter was a changed man but Harry didn't know that Tom had gone through a transformation of his own. Two weeks ago, one week after he had regained his true form, Tom was almost knocked out by a yell inside his mind that "_He just wanted to talk." _So it seemed that Harry knew about the link and had learned to control it enough to get past his occlumency shields. While that was intriguing in and of its self, Tom wondered just what had caused the once-boy to change his mind and _want_ to talk. It had only been ten years but Tom felt like it should be more with the skill that Harry was showing to hide himself. But why would he hide? Why would he want to talk and about what? Why was Harry Potter so hard to find!

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><p><strong>AN: Yes that is it for now. I need to come up with an outline for the rest of it. I hope you enjoyed it. Ja-na<strong>


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